From: xah lee <xah@xahlee.org>
To: rms@gnu.org
Cc: bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
Subject: bug#631: the M- notation suggestion
Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:53:21 -0700 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <FD86CBE0-D920-48F2-92D7-7BC4EE5124CE@xahlee.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <E1KONS7-0006Yc-SW@fencepost.gnu.org>
> I think you mean "GNU/Linux".
Yes. GNU/Linux. Sorry i forgot i'm talking to you. LOL. (i do support
GNU/Linux naming)
> Linux has no user interface and its
> documentation has no reason to refer to any specific keys.
In Gnome or KDE, when you pull menus, doesn't the shortcut shows
beside the menu command names?
I think I forgot to mention this. I think if this suggestion is to be
adapted, changing the shortcut notation as they are displayed in
menus should be part of it. Perhaps even more important than the manual.
> Our convention for the GNU system is C-x and M-x, which is what you
> are proposing to change.
>
> Using a notation that contains the actual label on keyboard's
> keys is
> much easier to understand. A beginning computer user, can read the
> ?Ctrl+?key?? notation and figure out which keys to press.
>
> There is some validity in that argument.
>
> For the Emacs Manual I have a feeling this would be very wasteful.
> But maybe it would be ok for some of the help commands, maybe even for
> all of them.
Wasteful, as in too much effort and little benefit?
I think the effort would be few hours of interactive find/replace in
the emacs manual's info source. O, there's also emacs tutorial info
file. Possibly a few more.
the other part is to fix the elisp code so that menus display
shortcuts using the Alt+ ant Ctrl+ notations. I'm not sure how this
can be done or how much effort it takes.
I think the benefit would be great, because it gets rid of one big
learning curve perception that stops people from using emacs.
Xah
∑ http://xahlee.org/
☄
-------------------
On Jul 30, 2008, at 6:59 PM, Richard M Stallman wrote:
The Alt+?key? or Ctrl+?key? notation is universal among
Windows and Linux.
I think you mean "GNU/Linux". Linux has no user interface and its
documentation has no reason to refer to any specific keys.
Our convention for the GNU system is C-x and M-x, which is what you
are proposing to change.
Using a notation that contains the actual label on keyboard's
keys is
much easier to understand. A beginning computer user, can read the
?Ctrl+?key?? notation and figure out which keys to press.
There is some validity in that argument.
For the Emacs Manual I have a feeling this would be very wasteful.
But maybe it would be ok for some of the help commands, maybe even for
all of them.
☄
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2008-07-31 2:53 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 15+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2008-07-30 8:49 bug#631: the M- notation suggestion xah lee
2008-07-31 1:59 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-07-31 2:53 ` xah lee [this message]
2008-07-31 22:01 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-08-01 2:10 ` xah lee
2008-08-01 6:53 ` xah lee
2008-07-31 22:01 ` Richard M Stallman
2008-08-01 2:07 ` xah lee
2008-07-31 17:30 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-08-01 6:39 ` Yavor Doganov
2008-08-01 7:42 ` xah lee
2008-08-01 8:37 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
[not found] ` <mailman.15692.1217578047.18990.bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-08-04 11:11 ` Joe Wells
2008-08-04 11:33 ` xah lee
2008-08-04 11:38 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
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